


Oh Honey, Honey

by lululawrence



Series: Honey Series [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Acquaintances to Lovers, Alternate Universe, Awkwardness, Disaster Gay Louis, Embarrassment, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Honey, Humor, Kinda, M/M, No Smut, Pining, but that tag doesn't really exist so here we are, kk was hashtag triggered so i wanted to warn ya, mentions of harry's feet, more like, or at least i think i'm funny so hopefully you agree, that deserves it's own official tag dammit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 00:51:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: Louis hated honey. He didn’t like the flavour, he didn’t understand why some liked it in their tea, he hated when it was put on sandwiches or cake or anything really. But, standing stock still in front of a rather large display of honey in that 24-hour Tesco, Louis found himself grabbing the largest jar of “100% pure London-local honey” and adding it to his trolley, simply because he knew it would make Harry smile.Louis always wanted to make Harry smile.Or the one where Louis pines after Harry, Harry is passionate about helping save the bees, and a late night shopping trip gone wrong doesn't end quite as horribly as Louis imagines.





	Oh Honey, Honey

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited I decided to do this for Wordplay this year hehe OKAY so the plan for this is to write a different fic using each week's Wordplay prompt all based off of a tweet I can no longer find the original for. It reads, "when i feel bad about my social skills i remind myself how one time rachmaninoff decided he was gonna be pals with stravinsky (who'd casually mentioned he liked honey) so he showed up at his house in the middle of the night with an enormous jar of honey and no explanation." I'll mix up the pairings and who is delivering the honey and all that good stuff every week and I'll probably also extend the series once I have time later. But for now, there will be five little fics hehe I hope you love them! I'm excited for them already.
> 
> Massive thanks go out to my beta [Mollu](https://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com) and britpick [KK](https://dinosaursmate.tumblr.com) (even though she hates feet lmao)! I'm sure there's still remaining mistakes, and those are entirely my own.
> 
> So, as mentioned before, this is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "foot". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/foot), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1 and 2), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/185709101043/wordplay-2019-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).
> 
> The title comes from Sugar, Sugar by the Archies. Please don't translate or repost my work without express permission from me. This is a work of fiction, please don't share it with anyone affiliated with the band, etc etc etc. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

Louis hated going to the shops. It was, hands down, his least favorite chore. He would do  _ months _ of laundry or tub scrubbing if it meant that someone would just bring him what he wanted to fill his cabinets and fridge.

Until someone magical like that showed up in his life, though, Louis was stuck with it. 

Usually, he did his food run on Fridays. He would get off work, stop by the Sainsbury’s across the street from his flat, and stock up before either going home and ordering a takeaway or changing before meeting Niall and Liam at the pub. It was such a routine, that whenever he was thrown off his usual schedule, he inevitably forgot until it was too late.

Like now. He’d had to work late in order to finish a project and went right to the pub from work, which of course meant he forgot to do the shopping. No big deal. When he realised what he’d done, he thought he would just go on Saturday instead.

But Saturday became Sunday which became Monday and, much faster than it seemed could be possible, it was Monday night and there he was. Standing in front of his fridge with all his cabinets wide open and he didn’t even have a splash of milk for his tea, much less anything he could pull together for a meal. He’d even finished off the last of his cereal that morning.

Sighing, Louis pulled a beer out of the fridge and drank it quickly. Mondays were his late nights at work, so it was already half nine, and he hadn’t eaten since noon. Maybe he shouldn’t be chugging beer on an empty stomach on a Monday, but that would be an issue for future Louis. For now he just needed  _ something _ to stave off the hunger before he ran to the shops.

Chucking the bottle in the bin, he grabbed another and walked towards his room to change. If he was going to have to do his most loathed chore, then he was going to be comfortable, dammit.

He pulled on his favourite, old joggers and a thread-worn band t-shirt before walking back out to the kitchen. He’d already finished half of his second beer and due to his lack of food that day, he was feeling a bit buzzed. 

“God,” Louis moaned to himself, pulling out his phone to start a list. He needed, quite literally, everything. Good thing he was usually fairly organised, so just going cupboard by cupboard told him exactly what he needed. 

Once his ridiculously sized list (at least for him) was made, he grabbed his bags and shoved them into a rucksack before he headed out. 

It was only when he walked out onto the street that he realised yet another spot of poor luck. It was already ten. The Sainsbury’s near him was definitely closed, leaving him only with the 24-hour Tesco. It was further away, which wasn’t really an issue, he just hated going there. They didn’t carry everything in the brands he liked, it was organised in a strange way, it was just. Not Sainsbury’s. But he supposed he could suck it up if it meant he could eat tonight.

Soon enough, Louis was pushing a trolley through Tesco, consulting his list. He also had to make sure he went down every aisle since he was a bit thrown off by the unfamiliar store layout. Having added the crisps that Liam liked so much to his pile of food, Louis’ mind wandered to their pub night last Friday.

Harry had joined them again, and he looked just as gorgeous as always. There was something about his wide smile and deep dimples that made him look so young. So innocent. Louis knew he wasn’t, he only needed to think of some of the innuendos he threw around on the regular to offset that thought, but he  _ looked _ it. 

They’d gone to Niall’s afterwards, and Louis had been so drunk that he’d completely stopped being a part of the conversation in order to admire Harry’s feet. 

The thing was, they were so  _ unique. _ Louis’ were just run of the mill, boring, ugly men’s feet. But Harry’s left foot alone had such character. Such personality. He had “big” tattooed on his big toes, all of his toes were long and lovely, and his feet were somehow narrow and bony while still being perfectly adorable.

Yes, Louis was quite aware he was entirely too far gone for a man when he was admiring their feet. He really had nothing to say for himself. But when Liam nudged Louis back into awareness of his surroundings outside of Harry’s feet, Louis realised that Harry was energetically ranting about the state of bees and the importance of supporting local honey.

Louis hated honey. He didn’t like the flavour, he didn’t understand why some liked it in their tea, he hated when it was put on sandwiches or cake or anything really. But, standing stock still in front of a rather large display of honey in that 24-hour Tesco, Louis found himself grabbing the largest jar of “100% pure London-local honey” and adding it to his trolley, simply because he knew it would make Harry smile.

Louis always wanted to make Harry smile.

Rushing through the rest of his shopping, Louis had forgotten about his inspiration to grab the honey until he was unloading everything at the till. The honey scanned and Louis almost choked. 

Nearly twenty pounds for a jar of honey?

“I’m sorry, can I see that please?” Louis grabbed the honey back out of the bag it had been placed in and looked at the label a little more closely. He was so tired and still slightly buzzed, so his eyes had a hard time focusing on the small print, but he read the words organic and family owned small business and that was enough to explain the pricing when paired with the amount he’d just bought.

What was he supposed to do with that much honey?

Louis paid for the food, made sure the heaviest items were in his rucksack, and then walked back out of the shop. 

Damn Tesco. He never would have impulse bought honey at his usual Sainsbury’s.

Rolling his eyes at himself, Louis turned right to start heading for his flat when his eyes caught on the building just down the road. Niall had made note that Harry lived close to Louis and had even told him where exactly it was, though Louis had promptly forgotten again. He remembered the detailing of the building though, and the flowers outside of it that Niall said Harry took care of himself. 

Just to be sure and completely out of morbid curiosity, Louis walked up to the door to see if there was a Styles listed on the plaque. 

And there it was. In his usual, neat, block-styled all-capital handwriting, the name Styles was listed under 3B. Before Louis knew what he was doing, he hit the buzzer and then pulled himself back, eyes wide. 

What had he just done? He just buzzed Harry’s flat around 11 pm on a Monday! Harry and Louis had never had a conversation outside of a group outing with the other lads. They had mutual friends, was all. They didn’t even have each other’s numbers, despite the fact Louis had been trying to work himself up to that for actual months. Now, due to a ridiculous and horrible desire to make Harry smile, a strange series of events led Louis here. To Harry’s step. With a large jar of honey and absolutely no explanation for himself.

“Hullo?” Harry’s deep voice was a bit rough, making Louis regret this even more. He was probably asleep, and now Louis’ woken him up, and for what?

“Uh, hey,” Louis finally said, clearing his throat and waving, despite the fact he knew Harry couldn’t see him. Idiot. “It’s, uh. It’s Louis? Tomlinson?”

“Oh,” Harry said, clearly taken aback. “Hi. Uh, come on in, I guess.”

Louis squeezed his eyes shut, but opened the front door and made his way inside. 

He had never been so grateful for the lift in his flat building as he was now, climbing the stairs to Harry’s flat, his arms shaking a little from the weight of his food. Every step he took solidified another few ounces of guilt and remorse for everything that had led him here right now, yet he could not bring himself to turn around. Why was he like this?

When Louis got to the third floor, he was greeted by a sleep-rumpled Harry watching him with confusion as he stood at his door.

“Hey, sorry I wasn’t expecting you. I didn’t know you knew my address.”

Louis had done all of this, and Harry was apologising. Was the man perfect?

“No, Harry. Sorry. It’s my fault.” Louis dropped both of the bags he was carrying and pulled his rucksack forward. “I’ll keep this short, since I obviously woke you up.”

Harry chuckled, and Louis warmed at the sound. He couldn’t allow himself to look up at Harry just yet, though. His hair was in a soft, messy bun with frizz everywhere and he had lines on his cheek from his pillow. Louis didn’t want to have that kind of intimate information when he so clearly didn’t deserve it.

Making a sound of success when he found it, Louis pulled the large jar of honey out of his rucksack and held it out for Harry.

Harry looked at the honey, looked at Louis, then back at the honey. “That’s… honey,” he said carefully, before reaching his hand out to take it from Louis. 

“Yes. It is.”

Looking at Louis with even more confusion, Harry didn’t say anything, but Louis knew what he wanted to know.

He wanted to ask Louis why. Why Louis would show up at such a strange hour with a jar of honey for no particular reason. Louis wished he knew.

Taking a deep breath, Louis started rambling, like he did best when he was nervous and exhausted. 

“See, on Friday I remembered you talking about how much work your mum was doing to help the bees and that helping support the local honey industry could really help that. The thing is, before I knew it, I was buying that honey.” Barely pausing to breathe, Louis continued, speaking even faster to just get the story out. “But I hate honey. I would never use it, and buying honey that cost a ridiculous amount of money just to have it crystalise in my cupboard was more than I could bring myself to do. So I thought hey, Harry might want this! And then there I was, standing in front of your building, because Niall had told me about where you lived and how you did the beautiful gardening out front and I just wanted to see if it really was your building, and then I was accidentally hitting the button and waking you up and I just really want you to have the honey. If that’s okay.”

Louis wanted to sink into the earth and die. There was absolutely zero reason for him to have given that amount of detail to Harry. Harry didn’t care. Harry barely knew Louis existed, much less that he had that much information about him, and now, here he was. Gifting Harry honey he didn’t ask for, at Harry’s flat that he never gave the location of. 

Zipping up his rucksack, Louis put it back on and grabbed his two other bags before slowly backing towards the stairs.

“And, with that, I’m going to let you be. I’m so sorry, I get it if you never want to see me again after this. Have a good night, Harry.”

Then, without waiting for a response, Louis rushed down the stairs and practically jogged the rest of his way home where he could pass away from this life blissfully alone.

 

*~~***~~*

 

It wasn’t until Louis opened up his fridge to see his newly stocked food that he remembered his idiocy of the night before.

Why? What had got him to the point of thinking anything that happened last night would be okay?

Louis banged his head against the freezer door before finally ignoring everything in the fridge for the toast and tea he already had ready for him on the counter. He’d take his tea without milk, because he deserved it strong. His system apparently needed a jolt to get itself back in working order after last night.

It was a rough start to his day, he had to admit, and it didn’t really improve once he was at work. All day long, Louis considered asking Niall or Liam for Harry’s number. Ultimately he didn’t have a good enough excuse for it, so he didn’t. Louis climbed the stairs to his flat, still unsure how he was going to be able to ignore Harry and get over his ridiculous and pathetic crush on the man when they got together (with their fairly large group of mutual friends, mind) almost every weekend. It felt like an insurmountable task, but he was sure he could do it. When Louis looked up at the landing, he was surprised to find Harry standing right in front of him.

“Oh, hi,” Harry said, shy smile growing on his face. “Hope it’s okay I just showed up? I didn’t have your number to warn you I was coming.”

“I didn’t know you knew where I lived,” Louis blurted out without thinking.

Smirking a little, Harry tilted his head to the side and popped his hip. “Yes, well I didn’t know you knew where I lived either, but everyone’s got their secrets, I suppose.”

Louis closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, see, I didn’t really expect to see you after last night.”

When he dared to open his eyes again, Louis realised his neighbour was waiting for him to move off the stairs so they could continue on their way. Apologising and finally heading towards his own flat, Harry only spoke again when Louis had unlocked his door.

“Yeah, you left before I could say anything. And that is a lot of honey, so I thought I’d use it to make some goodies, but they really are best shared.”

Louis looked over his shoulder and noticed Harry was holding a plate of what looked like fluffy chocolate chip cookies. 

“Those were made with honey?”

Smiling brightly, Harry nodded. “You said you hated honey, but I don’t think you realise how versatile it is, so I wanted you to try some of the good stuff that can be made with it.”

Narrowing his eyes at them, Louis opened the door. “Well, I really appreciate that. Would you like to come in and eat some with me? It could be like… a pre-dinner snack.”

Scrunching up his nose, Harry scuffed his shoes and looked at his phone. “I can’t, actually. I’m meeting Gemma for dinner soon. It’s why I was leaving, actually.”

“Right,” Louis said, feeling silly. Of course Harry only came by to be nice and give Louis some baked goods. 

“I was hoping, though, that I could get your number so I could talk to you before coming by next time.”

Louis jerked his head back up to look at Harry instead of the plate of cookies. “Next time?”

Louis wasn’t sure if it was the poor lighting of the hall or if Harry was actually blushing, but it seemed like he was. “Yeah, I’ve got to win you over to honey, don’t I?”

“Of course you do,” Louis agreed, finally taking the plate of cookies Harry was holding out. “Thank you, Harry.”

“Think of it as repayment for the honey,” Harry said. Once they’d exchanged numbers, Harry gave a small wave and made his way down the stairs.

Louis was a bit hesitant. In addition to the honey, there looked to be green bits in the cookies. Had Harry tried to sneak in vegetables? Were they growing some kind of strange, fast growing bacteria that turned them green?

Finally picking one up, Louis noticed it was slightly spongy. That concerned him even more. Did Harry actually know what he was talking about, or was this revenge for waking him up last night? If it was revenge, it was very strange revenge to be sure.

Sniffing it, Louis couldn’t smell anything off, so he closed his eyes and took a small bite of the cookie. 

It was  _ so moist. _ This cookie was soft, squishy, and practically melted in his mouth. The bitterness of the dark chocolate chips with the sweetness from the rest of the cookie was perfectly balanced, and Louis found himself groaning.

Picking up his phone before shoving the rest of the cookie into his mouth, Louis opened up a text message addressed to his brand new contact.

_ Louis: I’d say you’re already winning me over with these. You’ve set high standards for yourself _

Harry didn’t respond until Louis was dozing on the couch in front of  _ Love Island.  _

_ Harry: Honey - 1. Louis - 0. _

Sending off a quick middle finger emoji, Louis laughed when Harry sent back a smiling face, and continued watching.

 

*~~***~~*

 

Brownies. Bread. Honey butter. Fruit infused honey. For the past two weeks Harry had shown up almost every other day with something new for Louis to try, and outside of the appetiser that featured avocado which Louis refused to touch on principal alone, he’d enjoyed every single one.

It had also become a given that Harry would stay over afterwards. Sometimes they would order takeaway and watch some telly, sometimes Louis would make something for them and they’d talk until it was past Harry’s bedtime. Whatever ended up happening, Louis loved it and was finding himself liking Harry more and more.

“Why do you keep staring at my feet?” Harry asked, laughing and reaching over to poke Louis’ thigh with his bare foot. Louis squirmed away as best as he could, but considering they were both on his fairly small couch already, there wasn’t much space for that.

“Stop it, let me be,” Louis cried, smacking Harry’s foot away from himself. “Just because you have adorable feet doesn’t mean I want them touching me!”

That made Harry freeze. “You think my feet are adorable?”

Louis’ eyes went wide. He knew he would mess this up sometime. Things were going far too well considering the disaster that started this entire arrangement.

“Adorably… strange?” Louis said slowly. “I mean, look how knobby and long your toes are.”

Giving Louis a funny look, Harry didn’t say anything.

Louis chose to look back at the TV and pretend none of this had happened and everything was perfectly fine.

Leaning in closer to Louis, Harry tapped Louis on the shoulder. Louis ignored him at first, but Harry tapped again.

Sighing and folding his arms over his chest, Louis turned to glare at Harry and asked, “What?”

Harry was smiling just wide enough for his left dimple to be popping out. “I’ve liked you for awhile too, you know.”

Louis blinked at Harry confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

Scrunching his nose up again, Harry leaned his arm against the back of the couch and rested his head on his hand. “I said I’ve liked you for awhile too.”

“Too?” Louis asked, his heart pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. This couldn’t possibly mean what he thought it meant. “What are you implying, Styles?”

“You think I’m goooorgeous,” Harry started singing a little. “You want to kiiiiiiiss me, love me and huuuuug me.”

Louis started laughing and shaking his head. “You are insane. What’re you even saying?”

That made Harry straighten up. “Wait, do you not know what that’s from?”

“You were quoting something?” Louis asked, now entirely confused what was even happening with this conversation. His heart was racing, but it had calmed down enough that he could focus a little more on Harry’s words again. He needed it, too. Harry was speaking utter nonsense. 

“It’s from  _ Miss Congeniality!” _ Harry cried, his hands flying above his head. “Sandra Bullock is standing there in front of a  _ very _ attractive Benjamin Bratt, who’s being unfairly sexy at this point by the way, but she knows he wants her even if he’s pretending like he doesn’t. So she starts this little song and dance thing until he kisses her to shut her up and it’s essentially the best part of the entire film. Other than when she does the whole self-defense thing on stage. And the awesome club scene. Okay, never mind, there’s a lot of really great parts of the film, and if you don’t know that quote, we have to watch it right now.”

Harry had been speaking so fast, Louis could hardly understand what he’d been saying. He was now searching for Louis’ remote so he could switch it over to a film app or something, but Louis reached out for his arm.

“Harry, wait.” Harry stopped moving, but it could have been as much because he’d grabbed hold of the remote as much as because Louis had touched him. Reaching out and putting his hand on Harry’s cheek, Louis guided him so Harry was looking at him instead of the TV. “I do want to kiss you.”

Harry’s eyes studied Louis for a moment before he asked, “So what are you waiting for?”

Chuckling, Louis leaned in and joined their lips.

They didn’t get to watching  _ Miss Congeniality _ until the next weekend. Louis couldn’t bring himself to mind.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked it, please consider leaving a kudos and a nice comment. You can also find the fic post [here](https://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/185841920718/oh-honey-honey-by-lululawrence-harry-styleslouis), and I'd sure appreciate a reblog!


End file.
